Dominant Sri Lanka set for easy win

Susil Premalal reporting from Bengaluru

• Unbeaten defending champions Sri Lanka will target another easy win when they confront the Maldives in their 13th Asian Senior Netball Championship 2024 Group ‘A’ encounter at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, India today at 5.00 p.m.

All preliminary round matches of the tournament will conclude today, and Sri Lanka has already secured its place in the semi-finals.

The Maldives will start today’s match against the backdrop of some good performances in their earlier matches where they had the better of India (54-48), Saudi Arabia (73-14) and Japan (62-24) respectively.

In addition, Maldives went down to Malaysia (64-28) and the Philippines (56-54).

In contrast, the six-time champions Sri Lanka are looking to record their sixth straight win of the tournament having defeated the Philippines (71-42), Saudi Arabia (118-5), India (81-31), Japan (85-18) and Malaysia (72-40) respectively.

“We are confident of winning this match and finishing on top of Group ‘A’ and thereafter, we are set to play against the Group ‘B’ runners-up Hong Kong in the semi-finals,” Sri Lanka Coach P. D. N. Prasadi told the Daily Mirror.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday and the final will be played on Sunday.